Page 170 of Never Sleep with the Enemy

Knox grimaces. “You have lucky underwear?”

“No, but it sounded better than telling you the truth.”

He steps back with a muttered curse and a sneer at Logan. “Whatever.” He jerks a thumb toward the dressing rooms. “Shock, one of your girls sprayed something back there. Smells weird.”

“It’s just sage, brother,” Logan says.

“It’s weird. And stop calling me brother.”

“You have your pre-show rituals. We have ours.”

“Yeah, and yours are fuckingweird.”

I hang back, grinning as I watch them bicker with each other.

“No need to be so hostile,” Logan says with that maddening little smirk. “I didn’t like the smell either at first, but it grew on me. Trust me, by the time we reach Europe, you’ll probably love it.”

Knox recoils. “Oh, right. You’ll be with us. The whole time.”

“Yes,” Logan says with a polite nod. “That was the point behindThe Love Conquers All Tourwith The Electrics and Criminal Records.”

“Eh…” Knox wrinkles his nose. “Criminal Records and The Electrics.”

“Double headliners means equal billing.”

“Yeah, but… our logo’s first on the posters. People read left to right.”

“Not everywhere in the world.”

“Well, when we get to Tokyo, you can say your band first. Okay?”

Logan grins, never one to pass up a chance to needle my brother. “Okay.” He turns to me and presses a kiss to my cheek. “Gonna check on Tessie and Goldie.”

“I’ll be here,” I say, smiling into the kiss.

“I’ll make sure they air the room out,” he tosses back at Knox as he walks off.

“Yeah,” Knox mutters. “You better.”

He keeps glowering after Logan, then turns to glare at me instead. “The hell are you grinning about?” he asks.

“Nothing,” I say, holding my smile. “I like it when you two get along, that’s all.”

He groans as we head toward our equipment. He flops down into a chair and picks up his acoustic guitar, testing the tuning with a few absent plucks.

“Sign my boyfriend’s band to our label, Knox,”he mutters in falsetto, mocking me.“It’ll be fun, Knox!”

“I never said it’d befun,” I say, stepping behind him and crossing my arms over his shoulders. “I said it’d belucrative.Which it was!”

“He’s so talented, Knox.”

“Heistalented, Knox.”

He answers with a grunt.

I tap my cheek thoughtfully. “Hmm. I seem to recall a highly publicized music competition that settled this on this very stage, oh… two years ago?”

“He cheated.”

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